The Pitch Perfect Hunger Games
by SarahKinsley
Summary: The Barden Bella's and the Treble Makers are forced to participate in a version of the Hunger Games.
1. Chapter 1

Beca Mitchell walked across the quad towards her dorm room in Baker Hall. She had just auditioned for the Barden Bella's, and she thought it'd gone pretty well.

She really wasn't sure why she even cared, it's not like she wanted to do this. She did however want to go to LA, and if this was all it took to get there, it could definitely be worse.

She heard a sound behind her, but ignored it. Chloe, her shower stalker, had warned her that she would be kidnapped as a part of initiation. She did walk a little faster though, why make it easy for them? She smiled despite herself when she was grabbed from behind and a hood put over her head. She struggled convincingly, while trying not to laugh out loud.

Until she heard the kidnapper speak. _That's a man's voice_, she thought. _Maybe since it was just the two of them, Aubrey and Chloe had asked someone to help them?_ She tried to rationalize, but he was being really rough. He was actually hurting her. She tried to yell, but her ever-increasing fear wouldn't allow it.

When she felt herself being put in a car, she started really fighting. Her fear took a backseat to her instinctive self-preservation. She screamed and kicked at the person pushing her back, until someone was pulling her from inside the car and she heard the door shut.

"Shut that bitch up!" Another man called from the front seat. Something heavy was sitting on her legs, and her hands were tied behind her. She was helpless to stop the person in the backseat from raising the hood just enough to expose her mouth, and cover it with a damp, foul smelling cloth. Then everything was dark.

Hours later, or maybe minutes she didn't know, she was in a large room tied to a chair. It looked like some kind of warehouse, with no windows, and surrounded by piles of wooden crates. She was sitting in a circle of other people tied to chairs, some conscious, some not. Chloe, she recognized was sitting to her right, a bruise swelling on her left cheek, and unconscious.

"Chloe!" She whisper-called. "Chloe wake up!" She moved in her chair, trying to get free, but it was no use.

"It's no good, you know." An Australian accent from two seats to the left told her. "Whispering, I mean. I was the first to wake, been yellin' my head off forever, no one is here." Beca recognized the girl from the Deaf Jews booth at the activity fair.

"Where is this place, where are we?" She asked, looking around. "If this is some stupid initiation shit, I'm quitting right now. This is ridicul-"

"If it were an initiation, I wouldn't be tied to a chair too, Beca." Aubrey spoke from the other side of Chloe, with venom in every syllable. "Why don't we stop asking stupid questions, and try to figure out how to get out of here!" She yelled the last four words, almost knocking her chair over sideways with her sudden jerking movement.

"She's been like that since she woke up." The Australian girl said in an almost bored voice. "I'm Fat Amy, by the way."

"Fat Amy?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Yes." Aubrey interrupted. "She calls herself fat so that 'twig bitches like us' don't do it behind her back." Beca raised her eyebrows higher, and turned back to Amy, who was smiling.

"Ok then." Said Beca. There were ten of them in all Beca counted. Herself, Chloe, Aubrey, then two unconscious girls she didn't know. The next girl was awake, but spoke so quietly they still didn't know her name. Then a girl named Denise, followed by another sleeping girl wearing a slutty outfit, then the self-proclaimed 'Fat' Amy. Completing the circle was Cynthia Rose, had woken right after Beca.

The next to wake was the scantily dressed girl, whose name turned out to be Stacie. Followed by Jessica, the girl on Aubrey's other side, Chloe, and then finally Ashley was last. Right when Ashley opened her eyes, as if on cue, a door somewhere behind Beca opened and shut loudly. All the other girls were looking behind her, and Beca could hear footsteps, but she could not see the person fast approaching. He walked right between her and Chloe, to center of the circle.

"Hello ladies." He smiled at them, turning slowly on the spot so he could see them all. "My name is Caesar Flickerman, and I will be hosting this years Hunger Games!" He announced happily.

_This guy is fucking nuts!_ Beca thought. _Caesar Flickerman was a fictional character from a book! This must be some part of their Bella initiation._ She thought desperately. _Aubrey and Chloe were just playing along to scare them, there's no way this guy is serious. _She looked around to the other girls, her own confused expression reflected on all their faces.

"We are having a musical version this year. The Barden Bella's and the Treble Makers! Doesn't that sound like _fun_?" He looked at them, clearly expecting them to be as excited as him. "Alright then, lets talk about the rules." His voice more serious. "You'll be split into pairs; one Bella, one Treble. In one week's time, you'll be placed in the arena, and fight until only one pair remains. If your partner dies, your chances will be hurt, but that doesn't disqualify you. Other than that, there are no rules. Be as vicious as you can!" He paused momentarily. "Any questions?"

"Um, yeah." Cynthia Rose said uncertainly, eyes narrowed. "Is this some kind of sick joke, or are you really psycho enough to think you can make us all kill each other?" He just raised his eyebrows at her without answering.

"Well, what are you going to do if we just sit there and refuse to do it?" She asked.

"If you refuse to participate in the arena, then everyone you love outside the arena will die. You are not only fighting for your own life but that of your family and friends." Beca looked around the room again. If what he said was true, then that meant only one of the girls sitting here in this circle would live through the Games. Her eyes stopped on Chloe, who was trying to hide the fact that there were tears streaming down her usually bubbly face.

"May the odds be ever in your favor!" The crazy man exclaimed.


	2. Chapter 2

Beca was sitting nervously in a closet-like room off the main space of the warehouse. She was massaging her wrists where they had been bound earlier, and awaiting her assigned Treble partner. The door opened, and a young man was thrust violently into the room. He caught himself on the opposite wall, turned, and hit the door just as it closed.

"Damn it!" He yelled, hitting the door one more time before accepting defeat and turning back to face her. "Beca?" He sounded as surprised as she felt.

"_Jesse?_ Since when are you a Treble?" She opened her mouth to continue questioning him when he cut her off.

"Listen Beca, we need a plan." His voice was full of desperation and fear. "We need to escape, stop this somehow-"

"Jesse stop." She closed her eyes. "They know everything about us, did you know that? Earlier when he told us that they'd kill our families if we didn't play, I called him a liar. So you know what he did? He came back with a list of people that would die if I don't play. I can't be responsible for that. They're going to kill all but two of us one way or another, but we don't have to take our families down with us."

"But there has to be a way, something that we can do!" He argued.

"There might be, but until we find it we're going to have to play." She waited for him to answer, when he didn't she exploded. "Where did this fucking nut job come from!? Why is he doing this!?"

"He didn't tell you guys?" Jesse asked. "He said people are paying to watch. We are doing it for the entertainment of a bunch of sick freaks to get off. They're doing a photo shoot at some point so that they can bet on the winner and everything."

"_What?_" She stared at him in total disbelief. "They're making us _kill_ each other, for their fucking entertainment!" The door suddenly opened, ending Beca's rant.

"The photo shoot is going to start soon and you're first up." The fake-Caesar said. "You're stylist is here." He opened the door wider to reveal a very menacing, large man with two women standing beside him looking ecstatic. "Tony here will be your escort to make sure you're not any trouble." He indicated the man, who had to be near seven feet tall, and must have weighed at least three hundred pounds.

Jesse looked slightly discouraged by Tony. Slightly. Beca however, being a full two feet shorter, was intimidated; though she would have never let it show.

They followed the giggling women back into the big room, and through door on the other side. This room was much larger than their holding-closet, but not huge. There was a rolling curtain pushed to one side that one of the women pulled up to separate Beca from Jesse. Jesse tried to object to this, only to be bodily forced back to his side by Tony.

Beca's stylist, Kirby, was so excited she could barely contain herself. She had Beca strip (She and Jesse were both told if they refused Tony would do it for them) and bathe before they discussed her costume. Apparently she and Jesse were 'Team One' and they would be first up for the shoot.

Kirby showed her the outrageous costume choices all in royal blue and shimmering silver (Team One's colors). Finally, after much arguing, Kirby and Mirabella -Jesse's stylist- picked the set they would wear for the pictures. Beca thought it looked like a shiny martian suit, and was immediately mortified at the thought of anyone seeing her in it, especially Jesse.

It was a high-collared jumpsuit, mostly blue with a glittery silver stripe running from the armpit down to the ankle. The inseams and trim of the one-piece, as well as the shoes were also silver. Beca's face was painted with heavy silver make-up, so that she was almost unrecognizable.

It only took a few minutes to take the pictures, as opposed to the hours it had taken to get ready. Beca's body still ached where she'd been waxed and the costume was itchy, but this was nothing compared to the nerves she felt about what was coming.

She and Jesse and the others were treated well over the next week. They had taken to wearing their team colors all the time, which Fake-Caesar had said was necessary in order to "bond" with their teammates. They spend most of their time doing training; learning simple skills that might keep them alive in the game.

On the final night before the beginning of the games, they met the judges. Beca and Jesse, being team one, had to do everything first. They met with the judges together, for which Beca was grateful. The judges asked them questions about their lives and experiences, their partnership with each other, and relationships with other tributes. When all this was over they were taken back to Cabin 1 to watch the recorded interviews with their stylists and Tony.

Watching all of the Bella's she never got a chance to really know, and Trebles she was supposed to hate, talk about their lives, and the people they were leaving behind almost made Beca cry. Jesse did cry.

"How can we do this Beca?" He sobbed. "It was hard enough when they were practically strangers, but to make us see them as real people and then kill them? I don't understand . . ." Beca put an arm around him. Jesse wasn't as strong as she was; this game was breaking him before it had even started. She was determined to keep it together for him, as much as herself.

The interviews ended with a picture of each team, for the sake of those betting on the winners:

Team 1. Beca and Jesse

Team 2. Aubrey and Unicycle

Team 3. Chloe and Benji

Team 4. Fat Amy and Bumper

Team 5. Lilly and Donald

Team 6. Cynthia and Kolio

Team 7. Stacie and Wes

Team 8. Jessica and Michael

Team 9. Denise and Brian

Team 10. Ashley and Steven

The morning of The Games dawned too early for Beca. All the tributes were brought one by one into the prep room where they were dressed in identical grey suits accented with their respective team colors. There was a large blue number 1 on Beca's left sleeve and another on the back, to make her easier to identify.

Right before they left the warehouse, they were allowed to record a final message to their family, to be played in the event of their death. This just about did Jesse in. Beca tried to put as much into hers as she could. She apologized to her father for shutting him out after he left her and her mother, and to Sheila for never really giving her a chance. She also promised Jesse's family she'd do whatever she could to make sure he got out.

The ten teams were each blindfolded, put in a separate car, and driven no more than an hour to the arena. They were given a final "May the odds be ever in your favor!" from their stylists before having the blindfolds removed.

Beca and Jesse stood in front of a set of silver sliding doors, like an elevator or sorts, only smaller. The doors opened to reveal a very small space, and another set of doors. They stepped hand-in-hand into the claustrophobic space; Jesse cringed slightly when the doors behind them closed with a resounding clash. Beca squeezed his hand gently when the outside doors opened and they were thrust into the arena.


	3. Chapter 3

Beca stepped out of the elevator thing still holding Jesse's left hand. She had closed her eyes right before the doors opened, as if not seeing it would somehow make it less real. When she did open her eyes, she regretted the action immediately, but could not force herself to close them back. Now was not the time for weakness.

Had she not been so utterly terrified, she might have found a subtle beauty in this sight. They were in some kind of forest; no _jungle_ was a better word. It was very humid, she could feel sweat already forming on her face and neck. Then again, fear was probably a contributing factor there.

The trees, whose tops were so high and thick, blocked almost all of the sunlight. Everything was so colorful it almost hurt her eyes. The trees, their trunks and a majority of the ground were covered in various shades of green, but there were also flowers and plants in more colors than Beca thought existed. It was overwhelming to look at, but mesmerizing at the same time.

All of a sudden, a crate she hadn't observed before being fastened to a tree trunk high above her head, hit the ground with an earsplitting crash just feet from where she and Jesse stood. It broke on contact and its contents went flying. She looked up instinctively, and noticed several more tied in-between two close growing trees.

She took an uncertain step closer, and tried to identify the fallen objects. Then, pulling Jesse behind her, she rushed forward into the small clearing. The ground was littered with different colored duffel bags.

"There," Jesse pointed to the one in their team colors near the middle of the pile. He picked it up with his free hand, and opened his mouth to speak again but froze, looking over Beca's shoulder. She whipped around, ready to defend herself.

"It's just us," Chloe said, standing beside Benji. "I think we should work together." She said, taking a tentative step forward.

"We can't Chloe." Jesse said before Beca could speak. "They'll hurt our families, you heard what he said . . ." The pain audible in his voice.

"I don't mean all of us, I mean the four of us." She reasoned. "I know only two people can make it out, but I think we'll have a better chance if we try to stick together while we can. Strength in numbers and all that." She gave a half-hearted smile before moving to pick up her own light blue bag with a brown 3 on one side. "What do you say?"

"I don't see the harm in it, Jess." She said. "As long as we play the game, I don't think one alliance is going to be considered a rule violation."

"I agree." Jesse nodded. "I think that rule was mainly to stop us from all just sitting here and starving to death rather than kill each other, an alliance will be for the purpose of staying alive longer, not refusing to play." They could hear other footsteps growing near.

"I think we should move." Said Beca, letting go of Jesse to take the lead. They moved quickly and silently over the moss covered ground for several minutes before hearing a blood-curdling scream from the direction in which they had come. Beca turned back automatically, but Jesse stopped her.

"No, it's too dangerous to go back. We can't help whoever that was, and even if we could," He paused, looking sick at the thought he was having. "We shouldn't, because it just means one less person that we have to kill." Beca turned away from him, taking in what he'd said, and not liking it. She hated herself for it, but she agreed with him; it would be hard enough to kill anyone, let alone a group of innocent strangers. The less they took part in that, the better.

They stood there like that for a few seconds before they began hearing pounding footsteps racing towards them. It looked like their head start was over. She grabbed Jesse's arm roughly to make him move and ran into a clump of bushes, rather than try an outrun whoever was coming. Chloe and Benji only just managed to squeeze in beside them when they heard voices.

"That was fucked up, man." Cynthia Rose's voice reached them, slowing her pace. "I never knew Quiet Girl had it in her."

"They say it's always the quiet ones." A male voice Beca didn't recognize replied. "Who was the girl?"

"I think her name was Ashley, but I'm not totally sure." Was. Past tense. They had only been in here five minutes, and someone was already dead. Suddenly the whole situation seemed so much more real than it had up to that point. Cynthia and her partner were no longer close enough to hear, so Beca stood up from her uncomfortable position and stumbled out of the bushes.

"I have an idea." Jesse said, once he had managed to disentangle himself from the brush. He walked over to a nearby tree and took hold of a low hanging branch. In no time, he was half way up the slimy looking tree motioning for them to follow. Not wanting to yell up to him and give away their position, they didn't argue. Chloe went next, and then had to reach back down for Beca because she was too short to grab the branch, and Benji brought up the rear.

When they reached Jesse, they were high up enough to see all the way back to the clearing with the bags. There was a branch just above them twisted with another, connecting it to a neighboring tree. The two trees grew close enough together, Beca saw, that if they moved up there, they could all sit –almost comfortably- on level with each other. She moved towards it without warning, and the others just watched.

"Well," She said, looking back. "Are you coming or not?" She gestured to the space beside her, and Jesse immediately followed, the other two not far behind.

"Good thinking," Jesse smiled. "We can rest for a minute up here and plan our next move."

"We need to find water." Benji spoke for the first time. When everyone looked at him, he elaborated. "I've been camping with my dad and sisters a million times. The first thing you do in an unfamiliar place, is find water."

"I think we should see what's in the bags first." Beca pointed to the bags being held by Jesse and Chloe. "Then find water," She added to Benji.

The bags, it turned out, were very helpful. They both contained the same things: two flashlights, two bottles of water, a box of matches, a set of throwing knives, a knight stick, a bunch of slightly bruised bananas, and a bit of rope. They repacked the bags, and assessed.

"A bottle of water a piece, and a couple of bananas aren't going to hold us for long." Beca pointed out. "Did any of you guys see the other crates?"

"Other crates?" Chloe asked, looking puzzled. "I definitely would have noticed other crates in the clearing."

"They weren't on the ground, they were up where this one fell from." She explained. "The trees grow close enough together up here, we might be able to get to them. They could have food or other weapons in them, I think it's worth checking out."

"If we are going to do that, we should go now while we're still close. Once we go off in search of drinkable water, we may never find our way back here." They found the way back easily, being so close already, and being able to see the abandoned bright red duffle still lying in the clearing. Wasting no time, Benji removed the throwing knives from the bag on Chloe's arm, and cutting away at the rope holding the nearest wooden box.

"Wait," Beca put up a hand to stop him. "If it falls, the noise will attract the attention of everything within a mile, and we'll have to go down and fight for whatever it is."

"How else will be get it open though? We have knives, not saws." He reasoned. Beca considered this, and reached for her own bag. She pulled out the knight stick, and repositioned herself carefully, so that the box was on her right side. She pulled her arm back, and slammed it sideways into the box, making a hole not even big enough for her tiny hand.

"See how weak the wood is?" She said, putting her fingers inside the box and pulling another piece off. "Maybe they wanted to be extra sure it broke when it hit the ground?" She shrugged. Chloe took out her knight stick and handed it to Jesse, who was closer. Together, he and Beca made a hole in the side of the flimsy box large enough to extract a grey sleeping bag.

Jesse handed his blue duffle to Beca, and shined a flashlight inside the crate. He reached in slowly, and pulled out a set of thin poles tightly rolled in a stretch of canvas, and bound with a thick strap. He looked at it for several seconds before putting it back in the box and digging out more sleeping bags.

"Why did you put the tent back?" Benji asked, confused. "Shelter is important out here."

"Because it'll be easier, not to mention safer, to sleep up here in the trees. A tent would draw attention to us, and slow us down if we needed to run." He looked over the top of the tent box to the next one, and the five beyond that. "Are we going to go through all of them? We need to try to find water before it gets dark . . .."

"How will we even get over to them?" Chloe asked. "I doubt the boxes will hold our weight." Beca stood up partially, without answering, and caught the branch above her head. She climbed out over the second box and lowered herself slowly onto the top of it, testing her weight before letting go of the supporting branch.

"Beca, be careful!" Jesse called, face full of worry. She just gave him her signature smirk, and continued. Before she could do anything however, she heard a sound inside the box. She squatted down, and placed a cautious hand on the box, listening to make sure she hadn't imagined the noise.

"Beca," Jesse called again, his tone still worried. She gave him an urgent hush without looking up, and leaned closer, listening hard. There, she heard it again. Definitely inside the box. She stood and reached for the overhead branch, not daring move to quickly, when Jesse said her name a third time.

"Shut up, Jesse." She said harshly, concentrating. She knew she probably hurt his feelings, but she'd worry about that when she was away from this box. She very carefully shifted her weight onto the first box, and snapped at Jesse to hand her one of the knives. He obeyed without question, and gave her a nervous look when she took it from him.

She got as far back on the first box as she could to still be within reach of the ropes around the second. She began hacking at the ropes binding the two boxes together, until she heard them straining under the weight of their contents. She backed off her box quickly, and just in time for them to fall spectacularly into the clearing below.

"What the hell Beca? Why would you-" Chloe was cut short when the boxes exploded underneath them. The second box, the others now saw, had been full of snakes, now writhing all over the scattered remains of tents, food, weapons, and box fragments.


	4. Chapter 4

"Holy shit!" Jesse exclaimed, not bothering to keep his voice down. "Why'd you let them loose?"

"Watch," Beca said, though shutting her own eyes. Almost immediately, three people rushed eagerly into the clearing towards the noise. Obviously expecting something else, the trio backed up in panic, but it was too late. They didn't have much of a chance to put up a fight before the animals overtook them.

Chloe recognized Lilly and Donald, and thought the other guy must have been Ashley's partner. They appeared to have been waiting close by, probably hoping to ambush anyone unwise enough to return for Ashley's unused bag. When they heard the crash they must have known the other crates fell and thought they'd be the first ones to reach the new treasures. They weren't entirely wrong.

Beca wouldn't look. She knew what she had done; she didn't need to see it. A very strained silence surrounded them, and Beca felt a single, hot tear slide down her face. She could feel the others watching her, but couldn't stand the thought of having to face them.

She didn't think she could explain to them why she had done it. When she'd been on top of the snake box and realized what was inside, she had felt an intense fear, but only for a moment. She had forced herself to consciously distinguish the difference between fear and survival instinct, initially only to gain the strength to move. Then she suddenly saw the bigger picture. If she survived the immediate threat, it would only be to die anyway, perhaps by the very hands she had just stilled.

She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. She didn't deserve their comfort. She had put her own life before that of those that lay bleeding on the forest floor. What did that make her? She put up a hand to stop the condensation now streaming uncontrollably down her face. The hand on her shoulder returned, but this time she didn't resist it.

She had been expecting Jesse, but was surprised to see Chloe pulling her into a hug. She buried her face into Chloe's shoulder, and before she knew it she was bawling like a baby. Chloe held her tighter, and let her cry until Benji interrupted.

"Beca, I'm sorry, I know you're upset," He said in a small voice. "But snakes can climb trees." He pointed down, and sure enough they could all see the slithering creature growing nearer. Jesse forced two sleeping bags in his duffle while Benji did the same with his own. They went as fast as possible from tree to tree putting as much distance between themselves and the horror they were leaving behind as they could. It was hardly more than walking up in the canopy where the trees almost grew together.

Not wanting to use flashlights unless absolutely necessary, they stopped only when it was no longer possible to see without one. Very carefully, they found a spot they could safely perch their sleeping bags side by side without falling to certain death. Beca, speaking for the first time since they left the clearing, offered to keep first watch; it's not like she was going to be able to sleep anyway.

She was alone with her own thoughts for only a short time. Chloe felt her way through the dense darkness towards the tiny girl. She sat up beside her in silence for a long time, or maybe only few minutes, Beca couldn't tell the difference.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Chloe finally asked.

"No." Her voice barely more than a whisper. Chloe put her arm around her again, and Beca wasn't sure why, but she took small comfort in the closeness. She laid her head on the girls shoulder, and didn't realize she'd fallen asleep until she woke up to a face-full of bright light. Chloe was asleep beside her on top of the sleeping bag she didn't remember laying on.

"She woke me up when you fell asleep." Jesse answered her unasked question when he saw her looking around. "I'm glad you got some rest." He said, genuine concern in his voice. She nodded, not totally meeting his eyes.

"We should probably get moving." She said. "We went through half our water yesterday, and we haven't found any yet." Jesse could hear the grief in every word she spoke. These people were really sick, doing this to them. He watched her gently shake Chloe, trying to wake her, before he himself moved to wake Benji.

After packing up their camp, they looked in every direction trying to figure out which way they ought to go. Even though they were so high up, the trees grew too close together to give them much of a distant view. Finally, Benji spotted what looked like water not too far away.

While they were walk-climbing in silence again, Beca decided she would not allow her current self-hatred drag the group down. She mentally locked it up, to be dealt with afterwards, if she managed to survive this horrible mess. By the time they began their descent, she had adopted a whole new demeanor.

"Where the hell are we, anyway?" She asked no one in particular, when her feet hit solid ground. "I mean, this place is way to tropical to be in North America. Does anyone else not remember leaving the country?"

"Who knows how long we were knocked out before we woke up in that room." Jesse answered. Beca noted the change in his tone at her words. "It could have been days, weeks, we may never know."

"The Amazon maybe?" Chloe suggested. "That would explain the river." They stopped at the bank of the largest river Beca had ever seen. It had to be twice the width of the Mississippi, at least. "You think the water is safe to drink?"

"Safer than dying of dehydration." Benji answered, dropping to his knees and filling the empty bottle in his hand with river water.

That's a pretty big space to throw us in though. How would they keep us from getting so separated that we never found each other out here to play their stupid game? And they have to be watching from somewhere, or we wouldn't be able to entertain them."

"You're right about that." A voice to the their left called. "They've been driving us toward the water from the beginning, whether we knew it or not." Bumper's first knife hit Benji square in the chest, sending him over the bank and into the depths of the harsh-looking current.

Beca was the first to react, throwing her freshly filled bottle at Bumper, causing his next throw to nearly miss, but still graze Jesse's arm. Chloe hit Bumper with one of her knifes while he was aiming his third at Beca. He hit the ground hard, pulling the knife out of his stomach as he went. Amy came out of the tree line with the last of their knives, charging at Chloe, who was to preoccupied dodging the bloody knife Bumper returned to notice.

Beca was running towards Amy from her side, and collided with her just a couple of feet from where Chloe stood. Amy looked legitimately shocked when Beca plunged a knife into her side as she collided with her, knocking them both sideways with surprising force. Beca pulled the knife back out when she stood, leaving the Aussie on the ground, crying out in pain.

Bumper, despite his wound, had gotten up, weaponless, and tried to knock Jesse backward into the water, but failed. Jesse pushed him onto his back, and made to punch him in the face when Bumper's words held him.

"I already got that blond bitch and Unicycle." He was smiling. "And the other Bella that was with her." He sounded almost proud.

"What blonde?" Chloe asked with desperation, knowing the answer before he had a chance to say it.

"Aubrey." He said heartlessly. "She went in the river right behind the guy she'd just knifed." His voice was weaker now, losing blood fast. "Only ones left are you guys, that one bitch that looks like a dude with Kolio, and the slutty girl. I don't know what happened to the slut's partner, he was already gone when we saw them." His voice was barely audible now.

"Amy's dead," Beca announced, catching up to the others. Chloe was staring at Bumper like she wasn't really seeing him. Beca turned to Jesse, "What happened?" She asked, looking from Chloe to Bumper and back.

"Bumper said he killed Aubrey." Jesse said tonelessly, staring at Bumper in utter disbelief at his complete lack of remorse. This repeated statement hit Chloe hard though. She let out a wail at Aubrey's name.

"HE'S LYING!" She screamed; her best friend could not be dead. Aubrey was way too tough to have let this guy beat her. She just knew he was lying. So why was the world spinning so fast? Why did she feel like all the air had been sucked out of the universe? Why were there unstoppable tears streaming down her face?

She didn't realize she had sunk to the ground, until Beca was pulling her back up. She had never felt pain like this in her whole life. Aubrey was not just her best friend; she was her only _real_ friend, her sister, her rock. She felt the tears still running away from her eyes, she felt Beca holding her, but nothing seemed real. She saw Jesse out of the corner of her eye, dragging Bumper's body towards the river.

"Stop!" She shouted so loudly that he obeyed without even really realizing it. She ran towards Bumper, picking up a knife off the ground as she went. She stabbed Bumper's dead body repeatedly, screaming in frustration that she couldn't make him feel the pain she was in. Jesse lifted her off, and she screamed again as she dropped the knife, crying in Jesse's arms, and then Beca's while Jesse removed the bodies. She cried on Beca's shoulder until she had literally no energy left, and fell into an exhausted sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Beca held Chloe while she slept, and watched Jesse pretend to sleep. Jesse had tried to act like he was ok, but Beca could tell he wasn't. He had set up camp by himself while Beca tried to comfort Chloe, and afterwards he sat down on the ground beside Beca.

"This is so fucked up, Beca." He said quietly, looking at his feet. "What are we going to do?" He looked at Chloe's sleeping form, with her head now in Beca's lap.

"Who's left?" Beca said, trying to sound like she wasn't a breath away from a meltdown herself. Jesse admired her strength, and wished he had a little more. He opened his mouth to reply when he felt a single tear leave his eye. Quickly putting a hand to his face to keep Beca from seeing, he wiped it away.

"Bumper said a girl that looks like a guy, her partner, and a slut. I don't know who that means, or even if he was telling the truth." Jesse shook his head slightly to clear it. He didn't understand how someone could be so absolutely remorseless about killing innocent people. Benji was about as innocent as people could get, he thought. The poor kid never stood a chance.

"Cynthia something is the first girl," Beca said. "I don't know who her partner is, but I'm pretty sure the other girl's name is Stacie." Jesse was slightly taken aback at her tone. It wasn't full of the pain he'd heard earlier, it was just empty, hopeless. It only made him hate the sick bastards behind this all the more.

"We're going to have to find some food, or we're not going to make it." She said, just as tonelessly. She made to move Chloe off of her, but Jesse stopped her.

"It's ok, I'll go. We should let her sleep." He got up quickly before she could object and she watched him walk swiftly into the trees. Chloe shifted in her sleep, and Beca turned her attention to her.

"Aubrey," She whispered, the pain visible on her face even in sleep. Beca pulled her arm tighter around the girl, and tried to come up with a plan. A strange thought had just occurred to her when she heard Jesse's returning footsteps behind her.

"Chloe," Beca's whole body froze in terror. Not only was the voice not Jesse, it wasn't possible. She picked up the knife on the ground beside her very slowly, and turned her head to face the new arrival. She gave Chloe a violent shake, causing her to sit up in alarm, preparing for the attack.

"It's ok," Aubrey said weakly. "I didn't come to hurt you." Aubrey's suit was torn and blood-soaked on the left side, and it looked like every step was torture. Chloe just stared in disbelief, not quite sure if she was really awake, or what was going on. Aubrey had stopped walking and waited for someone to say something.

Beca jumped up, and went up to Aubrey and helped her walk over to where Chloe still sat on the ground, looking lost. Beca set her down as gently as she could next to Chloe. Chloe reached out a hand and touched Aubrey's face, as if to determine if she was real.

"I thought you were dead." She said, tears racing each other down her cheeks again. "Bumper, he said-"

"He tried," She interrupted. Beca was startled by how weak her voice was now. "He should have known it would take more than that to kill a Posen . . .." She gave her best friend a small smile. When Chloe tried to pull her into a hug however, she let out a cry of pain.

Beca picked up Chloe's bag –Jesse had taken theirs with him- and dug out one of the thin blankets. She began tearing strips of cloth off of one side while Chloe and Aubrey talked. She folded the rest of the blanket in a small square and rushed it back to Aubrey.

"I know this is going to hurt, I'm sorry." She told her, pulling the fabric of the suit away from the wound. She poured a whole bottle of water over it, while Aubrey laid on her other side. The gash looked deep, and Beca could tell it was already festering. The bandaging was only going to delay the inevitable. But still, she wrapped the thin strips of blanket around Aubrey's waist, securing the folded part over the injury. _If she is going to die, at least it'll be with a little more dignity_, Beca thought.

"You're gonna be ok, Aubrey." Chloe said instantly. "I know you will be. You're the toughest person I know." But Beca could see the truth in Aubrey's expression.

"Chloe, listen," She began; almost unable to continue for the look Chloe was giving her. "I need you to understand, ok? I'm going to die." Chloe rejected this at once. Somewhere deep down she knew this was true, but her brain would not accept it. Her words were still full of desperate denial, when Aubrey interrupted her.

"Chloe." The tiredness in her voice increasing slightly. "I didn't come and find you so you could help me, I came to say goodbye." She paused to lean on Chloe's shoulder. Beca was surprised she'd managed to make it this far. "I wanted you to know that I love you, and that it's ok . . .." Her voice faded slightly, as her breathing started coming slower. "It's ok to-" Chloe was choking on her tears now, listening to the volume of her friends voice get lower with each word.

"To let go," It was barely a whisper. She gave a tiny jerk, and was still in Chloe's arms, her soft green eyes staring without seeing. Beca thought Chloe's renewed sobs, while still full of heartbreak, had a tiny bit of closure now too.

Jesse came walking back out of the woods at that moment, carrying something odd-shaped wrapped in a blanket, and wearing a proud expression. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed the very blonde addition to their camp. He dropped the blanket and the bag and ran over, dropping to his knees in front of Chloe and Aubrey. Aubrey's body was shaking under Chloe's cries. Jesse moved to close her eyes.

"Don't touch her!" She shouted, slapping his hand away. "Don't touch her," She repeated in a whisper, shivers of grief still rolling through her.

"Chlo," Beca said gently, placing a hand on her unoccupied shoulder. "She's gone. There's nothing we can do for her now." Chloe just closed her eyes, not wanting to hear it.

Beca watched Jesse walk to the riverbank and bend down. She stood and sauntered after him when she realized what he was doing. The ground closest to the water was loose and muddy; Jesse was digging out a place in the reeds with his hands. They hand-dug for nearly two hours before it was finally deep enough.

Jesse lifted Aubrey's body from beside Chloe without argument this time. They zipped her up in Benji's sleeping bag and buried her by the water. Beca and Jesse, who were both completely covered in mud, rinsed off in the edge of the water, careful not to get caught in the undercurrent, while Chloe started making a fire.

They weren't going to try to hide from the remaining three players. They were going to sit right here, roasting the wild monkey Jesse had hit with his throwing knife (while aiming at something else, but he didn't share that part with the girls), and wait for the others to show up.

They didn't have to wait long. The sun hadn't quite set on them when Cynthia Rose led her group out of the cover of the trees. The only three players who had thus far hurt no one, but waited for the others to kill themselves off, had finally come out of hiding. They'd been watching from the trees since they buried Aubrey, but they never left the openness of the riverbank, preventing them from going through with their surprise attack plan.

"Hey Red," Stacie called, so that Chloe turned around right before she pushed the knife into Chloe's stomach and let it go.


	6. Chapter 6

"No!" Beca screamed, jumping over Chloe to reach Stacie. She impaled the taller girl with the sharpened stick that the monkey had been suspended over the fire with. Unlike Stacie, Beca pulled her shank back out, causing her to bleed profusely when she hit the ground. "Don't pull out the knife Chloe." She said over her shoulder.

Jesse and Kolio were both fighting without weapons, wrestling on the ground intensely. Cynthia Rose took advantage of Beca's preoccupation with Stacie. She grabbed the tiny girl from behind lifting her off her feet. Beca screamed as she lashed out in a vain attempt to free herself. She was seconds away from being fish food when Cynthia stopped walking.

Beca was momentarily confused until Cynthia fell forward on top of her. Jesse had won his fight with Kolio just in time to hit Cynthia Rose in the back with a throwing knife. Beca struggled to get out from under her, but Cynthia's hands closed around her neck, still fighting with her dying breath.

Jesse threw her off, and she rolled to the side and into the river. He pulled Beca to her feet, but not before Kolio's knife dove into his shoulder. He followed Beca's gaze and saw the bloody tip of a blade sticking out of his deltoid. Beca ran around him, picking up the sharpened stick she'd dropped before as she went, and met Kolio mid-charge. The makeshift spear went through him as easily as if had Stacie, but he was running so fast, it still knocked her back.

For the second time in just a few minutes, she felt herself falling underneath someone. Jesse ran to them, ignoring the pain in this shoulder. The stick she'd had was sticking out of Kolio's back, and he wasn't moving. After he tore him off, Beca still didn't move. He bent over her, trying to decide if the blood covering her suit was hers or not. It looked like she'd hit her head on the way down and been knocked out. Her breathing was steady enough, so her left her to check on Chloe.

Chloe had obeyed Beca's order not to remove the knife, but blood still seeped through her fingers. She looked at Jesse with wary eyes.

"Beca?" Was all she managed to say; he could see blood in her mouth too.

"She's ok." He hoped he wasn't lying. The air suddenly filled with sirens and screams. He turned just in time to see a pair Humvee's break the tree line, followed by a whole parade of military vehicles. Jesse almost cried at the sight of the soldiers running towards him. He was insisting they take Chloe first, being in the worst condition of the three still alive, when a tall man in uniform approached him.

"What's your name?" He asked, but then continued without waiting for an answer. "Do you know if Aubrey Posen is alright?" Jesse suddenly noticed the man's green eyes; Aubrey's green eyes. He lowered his own, no longer able to speak. The tone of Mr. Posen's next words was so different Jesse had to look up to be sure it was the same man speaking. "Where is she, son?"

Jesse turned away and walked towards the place they had buried her. He tried to compose himself quickly; he didn't want Mr. Posen to see the tears forming in his eyes. He had never heard a parent's grief before, it was even worse than Chloe's. He pointed to the stone they marked her grave with, and watched the man sink to his knees beside it.

"I got him, sir." He didn't know what made him say it, but he kept talking. "The guy that . . . he's in the river." Jesse couldn't say the words, but Mr. Posen nodded at him without looking up, hiding tears of his own.

"Jesse?" A woman's voice called behind him, uncertainly. When he turned around, the soldier came closer. "You need to go to the hospital now, come on." She offered her arm and Jesse took it, leaving Mr. Posen alone by the bank. With the mixture of extreme emotions going through his body, he had temporarily forgotten how much pain he was in. Now though, while he walked past the carnage in their camp, it returned full force.

Apparently some of the recordings of their 'contest' got leaked, and a rescue team was sent after them; Mr. Posen's unit joined when he learned his daughter was one of the missing. It made Jesse feel sick to think that if they'd only gotten there a few hours earlier, they might have been able to save her. Or a few minutes earlier, and they could have at least saved Stacie, Kolio, and Cynthia Rose.

Jesse got into it with the hospital corpsman on the way out when he wouldn't tell him how Beca and Chloe were, but instead of answers he got sedated. He woke up in a hospital bed, who knows how much later, and the first thing he saw was Beca sleeping in the chair beside his bed. She was wearing a set of hospital greens, and a large bandage on her left arm.

He didn't know how long he watched her, before he realized. "Beca?" He tried to nudge her awake, but as soon as he touched her, she flew out the chair like his gentle poke had been a deathblow.

"Sorry," She said, sitting back down. "I freak out easily." _I wonder why_, he thought sarcastically.

"Where's Chloe?" He demanded, almost not wanting to hear the answer.

"In the next room." She said, and then seeing the look on his face, added: "She hasn't woken up yet."

"But she'll be ok? I mean, I just now woke up, and I feel fine." He said, looking at her expectantly.

"You were sedated though." She said, looking at her feet. "They can't wake her up." She said the last sentence in a much quieter voice; Jesse almost didn't hear it.

"What do you mean? She's in a coma?" He sat up suddenly, without waiting for an answer. He was trying to get out of bed when the nurse walked by.

"Whoa there, calm down." She said, entering the room. "You don't need to get up just yet."

"I have to see Chloe," He needed her to understand. "Beca said she's in a coma, but I need to see." He was halfway out of the bed when she stopped him.

"I can't let you walk around just yet." She paused at the look on his face. "I'll get you a wheelchair, ok? He nodded, waiting only for her to leave the room, before he got up anyway and made for the door.

"Jess, hold on." Beca caught up with him. He was prepared to argue with her, but she just offered her arm, and led him to Chloe's room. It was worse than he'd thought. Chloe's skin looked very pale in contrast to her flaming hair. She was buried under evenly beeping machines, and IVs. Beca set him in the chair, and then sat on the bed by Chloe's feet.

"How long has it been?" He asked.

"Not too long," She hesitated. "Two days."

"Aubrey," Chloe breathed, and they both jumped. "I'm sorry, Aubrey."

"Chloe?" Beca said, taking her hand. "Chloe, can you hear me?" Chloe suddenly opened her eyes, and started screaming apologies to Aubrey. Beca hit the nurse button while Jesse tried to keep a writhing Chloe from falling out of bed. Her machines were going crazy, and the nurses forced Beca and Jesse out when they arrived.

They stood, holding each other outside of Chloe's room. The code blue announcement rang through the hospital p.a. system, and Beca held her breath. The door at the end of the hall opened, and a man in Military dress-whites came jogging down the hall.

"Mr. Posen?" Jesse asked, confused.

"I just got back from her visitation." His voice broke on 'her.' "What's going on? She was fine when I left." Jesse thought he looked like a scared child. Jesse didn't understand why he was here instead of Chloe's parents, but when he leaned to ask Beca, she answered before he could.

"Chloe's parents are dead, she was raised in foster care. Aubrey was listed as her only next of kin." She whispered out of Mr. Posen's earshot. Jesse thought about how helpless Mr. Posen must feel right now. He just lost his only child, and now her best friend, his last connection with her, is dying in front of him.

Jesse turned his back to Mr. Posen; he couldn't stand to see the man's face if Chloe died right now. Just as he turned however, there was a single beep from Chloe's machine that made him spin on the spot. Another followed it, and then he heard Mr. Posen audibly release the breath he'd been holding.

When they wheeled the crash cart from her room a few minutes later, Mr. Posen was the first to enter. Chloe was barely awake, but she was ok. When she saw Mr. Posen standing at the foot of her bed, she began crying immediately. He sat beside her on the bed, and put a comforting arm around her.

"I know I wasn't the best father," He started, putting much effort into keeping his voice steady. "But, if it's alright with you, I'd like to try again." Chloe burst into fresh tears and nodded against his shoulder.

"It has been twelve years today, since the twenty students from Barden University went missing, and were forced to participate in the delusions of a man who believed himself to be Caesar Flickerman, host of the popular 'Hunger Games' book series. Seventeen college students between the ages of 18 and 25 died over the three days these so called 'Games' took place.

Yesterday, just one day before the anniversary of these horrible crimes, 47-year-old Dennis Bracken a.k.a Caesar Flickerman, who was serving his seventeen consecutive life sentences at a maximum security facility here in California, was murdered in the prison yard during a gang related altercation. The man responsible-"

"Did us all a favor." Beca said under her breath, as she turned the television off.

"What'd you say mom?" Aubrey asked.

"Nothing," She said a little too quickly. "Now go get your dad, we don't want to miss our flight." Every year on this day, she, Jesse and their daughter went to Atlanta to visit 'Aunt Chloe' for a week.

Jesse walked into the kitchen carrying a black suitcase in one arm, and a seven-year-old in the other. She ran a finger over the scar on her left forearm absentmindedly, before leading the way outside.


End file.
